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Biography

Christopher Cimorelli is the Director of the National Institute for Newman Studies and Associate Editor of the Newman Studies Journal. He holds a bachelor's of science degree in Economics and a master's degree in Theology and Religious Studies from Villanova University. Before beginning advanced graduate work, he was the Editorial Assistant of Commonweal Magazine (2008-2010). He holds a master's degree in Advanced Studies in Theology and Religion (2011) and a doctorate in Theology (2015) from Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (Belgium), where he studied under the Newman scholar, Prof. Dr. Terrence Merrigan. Prior to working at the Institute, he was an Assistant Professor of Theology at Caldwell University (2016-2020), where he served as chair of the Department of Theology and Philosophy (2020), Co-Director of the Spirituality and Leadership Institute, and a member of the RCIA-ministry team. He is the author of the monograph, John Henry Newman's Theology of History: Historical Consciousness, ‘Theological Imaginaries', and the Development of Tradition (Peeters, 2017). He is contributing co-editor of both Salvation in the World: The Crossroads of Public Theology (Bloomsbury, 2017) and One Bread, One Body, One Church: Essays on the Ecclesia of Christ Today in Honor of Bernard P. Prusak (Peeters, 2021). He has varied research interests, including Newman studies, doctrinal development, views of doctrine and the magisterium, apophatic theology, spirituality, ecotheology, and the intersection of progress and Catholic Social Teaching.

Education

Ph.D., Theology (Systematic Theology), Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, 2015
M.A., Advanced Studies in Theology and Religion (History of Church and Theology), Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, 2011
M.A., Theology and Religious Studies, Villanova University, 2008
B.Sc., Economics, Villanova University, 2006

Publications

"Newman, Catholicity, and the Church Today: On the Development of Christian Principles through Dialogue with the World," Religions 12.507 (2021): 13 pp., https://doi.org/10.3390/rel12070507.

One Bread, One Body, One Church: Essays on the Ecclesia of Christ Today in Honor of Bernard P. Prusak, ed. Christopher Cimorelli and Daniel Minch, Annua Nuntia Lovaniensia LXXXI (Leuven: Peeters, 2021).

"‘Heralds and Servants': An Open View of the Magisterium for the Promotion of Christian Unity," in One Bread, One Body, One Church: The Ecclesia of Christ Today, Essays in Honor of Bernard P. Prusak, ed. Christopher Cimorelli and Daniel Minch, Annua Nuntia Lovaniensia LXXXI (Leuven: Peeters, 2021), 117-140.

with Daniel Minch, "‘How Does the Church Come from Jesus?' Bernard P. Prusak's Question and Our Unfinished Theological Task," in One Bread, One Body, One Church: Essay on the Ecclesia of Christ Today in Honor of Bernard P. Prusak, ed. Christopher Cimorelli and Daniel Minch. Annua Nuntia Lovaniensia LXXXI (Leuven: Peeters, 2021), 1-15.

"Progress Traps and Christian Eschatology: Newman, Christian Spirituality, and Acedia," in John Henry Newman and the Crisis of Modernity, ed. Brian Hughes and Danielle Nussberger (Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2019), 141-162.

John Henry Newman's Theology of History: Historical Consciousness, ‘Theological Imaginaries', and the Development of Tradition, Studies in Philosophical Theology LX (Leuven: Peeters, 2017).

Salvation in the World: The Crossroads of Public Theology, ed. Stephan van Erp, Christopher Cimorelli, and Christiane Alpers (London: Bloomsbury, 2017).

"Development amid Sin: Schillebeeckx and Newman for Today," in Salvation in the World: The Crossroads of Public Theology, ed. Stephan van Erp, Christopher Cimorelli, and Christiane Alpers (London: Bloomsbury, 2017), 180-196.

"Doctrines as ‘Narrative-Linguistic Icons': Newman, the Creed, and the Liturgy," Questions Liturgiques 96, no. 1/2 (2015): 20-40.

Cimorelli, Christopher. "John Henry Newman: A ‘Person' for Our Time," Tijdschrift voor Theologie 55, no. 4 (Winter 2015): 380-93.

Cimorelli, Christopher. "The Possible Advantage of Doctrinal Growth: Revisiting Newman's Understanding of Development," Newman Studies Journal 11, no. 1 (2014): 32-44.

with Daniel Minch. "Views of Doctrine: Historical Consciousness, Asymptotic Notional Clarity, and the Challenge of Hermeneutics as Ontology" Louvain Studies 37, no. 4 (2013): 327-63.

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